


try to imagine anything so bright

by regencysnuffboxes (malicegeres)



Series: The Melanie Crowley Cinematic Universe [2]
Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Day At The Beach, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, Swim lessons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-18 23:46:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18128111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malicegeres/pseuds/regencysnuffboxes
Summary: A day at the beach by the house in Nice. Crowley teaches Melanie how to swim.





	try to imagine anything so bright

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to write some kidfic fluff so, like, here's that! You probably don't need to have read A Glittering Instrument to understand Small Kid Has Beach Day so please enjoy. :)

Melanie waddled in the sand ahead of Crowley and fell forward onto her hands for the third time since they'd started walking down the hill from the house.

Crowley laughed. "Slow down, kid," he called. "You're not going to have room for lunch with all the sand you're getting in your mouth."

He let her reach the shore first. She stared into it with hungry eyes, and Crowley couldn't help feeling proud. Humans had always been afraid of the sea. It was a place of danger and death that only sailors were brave enough to navigate, and those sailors still had a healthy respect for the sea. One wrong move, and they could be drowned as easily as anyone else. 

Crowley had always quite liked it, though. Beaches were always empty, for one thing, at least as long as people were afraid of them. There hadn't been anything like the sea in Heaven, and the warm, salty water of the Mediterranean was a nice contrast to the seas of fire he'd barely given himself time to get used to down in Hell. He loved the smell of sand and seaweed, the taste of salt in the air and the coarseness of it on his skin, the sound of the waves lapping up on the shore. He knew a day was coming soon when the beach wouldn't be so quiet, but for now the Mediterranean was calm and warm. Perfect for teaching a little girl how to swim.

Beach towels hadn't been invented yet, and nor had inflatable arm floaties, so Crowley made do with a tablecloth he didn't like and some linen towels from the house for drying off. These were rolled into a bundle that he carried under one arm, with a porous driftwood branch for Melanie held in the other.

He handed her the branch and laid out their little spot. The tablecloth was a nice, dark color that was perfect for sunning, and he was looking forward to a well-earned nap.

Neither of them had bothered getting properly dressed beyond their linens—although Crowley had made sure Melanie went with what were traditionally boys' undergarments instead of a chemise. There was nothing to do but get in.

He smiled down at her. "Ready?"

Melanie giggled as the foam of the gentle breakwater tickled at her toes. Then she looked up. "I just go?" she asked.

"Sure," he said. "I'll be right behind you."

The waves were hardly more than ripples, so Melanie had no trouble wading into the water up to her chest. Crowley was upright on his knees in the water, hands positioned around Melanie's waist. "Jump up and grab onto the wood, now."

She did, and her yellow eyes widened as the piece of driftwood caught her weight. He grabbed hold of her waist until she had a good grip, and then he released her again so that just bumping against his hands kept her in place. "Wow," she whispered. "It's like flying!"

"Not really," said Crowley. "Now I want you to try something. The most basic bit of swimming is kicking around. You know when you splash water, how the water slows your hand down because you're pushing it?"

She nodded.

"So you just do that, but with your feet. And instead of splashing water, all the water stays in the sea and you just push yourself up with it instead. Got it?"

Melanie's face twisted with concentration, and a bony heel cracked against Crowley's own poorly-padded thigh. 

He hissed. "Kick the water, not me."

"Sorry," she said, looking embarrassed. She waited for Crowley to back away from her a little, and then she tried again, kicking until she lifted out of the water an inch. 

"Very nice," said Crowley. "Now why don't you try spinning around?"

She furrowed her brow. "How?"

He thought about it. He thought about it for quite a long while, actually. "I don't really know," he admitted. "You just spin. Here." He took his hands away from her for a moment. He pushed off the sand beneath him so that he had room, and then he did a quick twirl in the water propelling himself with his... arms. "Huh. Alright, you're going to need to hang onto my back while I figure this out."

"You'll be my boat," said Melanie smugly.

"That's me," he grumbled, feeling put out that he couldn't explain something so bloody simple. He pulled her close to him and let her grab his arm so she could pull herself around to his shoulders. He took the driftwood and, once she felt secure enough for his liking, he took them out into deeper water where he had a bit more room to move around. "You let me know if you get tired, alright? I don't want you to fall off."

"It's easy when it's floaty," she said with amazement.

He smiled a little. "Yeah," he said. "I suppose it is."

Melanie didn't seem to find what Crowley had to say about spinning particularly helpful, as she kept asking him to do it over and over until they were both dizzy. He decided to switch gears and show her how to kick forward using the driftwood as a floatation device, but he didn't seem to be having much luck there, either.

"I'm too scared!" she shouted, giggling.

"You're not," he said reasonably. "You were floating on it just fine only a minute ago."

She cast him a conspiratorial glance. "Maybe if you show me _again_ , I won't be scared this time."

He smiled, and he kicked forward again, his daughter clinging tight to his back. And if he thought about it very carefully, forgetting everything he knew about human expression, he could almost believe that her squeals of delight were actually screams of terror.

At least she was getting comfortable in the water, and as the morning wore on she really did show some improvement. He'd started out having to work to keep her from rolling forwards or backwards on the log, and now she was doing a good job kicking to keep herself stable. She even demonstrated an ability to hold onto the log with one arm and stay upright when she decided to go ahead and splash her father in the face. Crowley had no choice but to splash back, and the lesson went off the rails completely from there.

In the end, he decided that since Melanie was going to live forever anyway, they had all the time in the world and he'd probably be alright saving the real swim lesson for tomorrow. Melanie really did look tired after using so many new muscles and playing so hard, and Crowley couldn't resist an excuse to bask in the sun on a warm day like this. He carried her out of the water, the warm sand molding to his wet feet. When they were both dried off he laid down, shut his eyes, and dozed off to sensations of warm sunlight, rushing water, and the comforting weight of a sleeping child on his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr at [crowleyraejepsen](https://crowleyraejepsen.tumblr.com)!


End file.
